Vampires
Vampires, or vamps for short, are a race of blood-drinking supernatural creatures that were once human. It has been stated encountering a vampire is very rare as hunters have hunted them near to extinction although due to their ability to reproduce by transfusion there only needs to be one for them to repopulate. History Creation The exact origins of the vampires is a muddled tale, but a widely accepted myth is that during the Fourth Dynasty of Ancient Egypt, a priest took a beautiful girl and performed a dark and wicked ritual upon her, killing her with a knife (which later came to be known as the Nightblade) and using black magic that damned her soul to hell for all eternity, transforming her into the first vampire. This girl, known to vampirekind as the Night Mother, went about and sired seven girls, known as the First Generation. These girls were so bloodthirsty that an enchantress enslaved them to Khonsu, god of the moon; confining them to the darkness and terrors of the night so that they burned in the daylight. However, a humble goldsmith was ordered by Ra-Horakhty, god of the sun, to fashion seven rings out of the finest bronze and enchant them so that the maidens might venture out in the daylight without being burned alive and Ra-Horakhty might look upon their beauty. Souls The myth of vampires not having souls, or losing their human souls once they turn to the darkness, is false to an extent. It's only technically true for First Generation vampires and their purebred offspring, who have a demonic soul that resides in Hell. Otherwise, a vampire that was once a human has a soul. Purebloods Purebloods are children born of the union between a First Generation vampire and a half-blood; making them two-thirds vampire. They are powerful beings capable of mass destruction and often are consumed by bloodlust as they grow older. However, only the direct child of a vampire and a human is capable of impregnating a female vampire. Master vampires Master vampires are capable of siring other vampires. Halfbloods A half-blood, or dhampir, is a creature that is the result of a union between a vampire and a human. This union was usually between male vampires and female humans, with stories of female vampires mating with male humans being rare. Dhampir can be recognized by their untamed dark or black hair and lack of a shadow although they are reflected in mirrors. Female vampires can only naturally conceive children with half-bloods (dhampir) because their contaminated blood is less potent than that of a full-fledged vampire and their sperm is 'human' enough to be capable of fertilizing the female vampire’s egg. However, the bloodline of the half-blood must be both potent enough to mate with a female vampire but less so that the child is born mutilated. Characteristics They live forever, and several depicted vampires are hundreds of years of age or older. They also mate for life. Their diet is based strictly on blood. Although they prefer human blood, humans aren't the only animals that they can drink from. Vampires must keep their victims alive or else their blood becomes toxic to them. However, some vampires will live off of donated blood bags because they don't want to kill a living being. Vampires can be killed by beheading, staking, direct sunlight, or fire. They leave behind a corpse that can be examined to find their vampire teeth. Hierarchy The first vampires who walked the earth existed, fed, and traveled, in groups. They would stick together to feed, defend and protect each other, working as a unit to survive. Vampires are organized into nests, with eight to ten vampires residing in each, with a mate for life. The younger members of the nest typically do the hunting for their elders, bringing back humans to be fed upon for days or even weeks. Each nest has a leader, typically the oldest vampire and most often the one who turned the others. They submit to the decisions of the leader. When vampires are first turned, they are reliant on their maker for blood and thus have no choice but to follow them, coming to see them as their source of life. The Seven Bloodlines The Seven Bloodlines are the lineage that vampires can trace through their Dominance Ritual On occasion, one of the nest, or even one outside the group, might challenge the pack leader. Then would then, according to the Bestiarum Vocabulum; ‘meet in a battle of wills, climaxing in an act of sexual dominance by the winning party’. If the challenger won, he would assume leadership of the pack, and the previous pack leader would submit to his leadership. If he lost, on the other hand, he would become one of the pack, and submit to the pack leader. From that point on, he would be under their control. After the loser surrenders, the winner bites their neck and leaves behind a mark that never fully heals. The mark is incredibly sensitive and capable of causing either immense pain or pleasure depending on how the claimant intends it. According to the ancient text, a participant must dominate the other vampire in the fight and make him actually verbally accept the winner's authority. There is a lot of power behind the dominance ritual. Once the winner made the loser accept their authority through the act of domination, resisting is like trying to fight an instinct that just can’t be helped; they could do it – but not for long, and it would be almost impossible. The loser might still disagree with their master on most things, and argue back and all – but if they give him a direct order – the vampire will be pretty much bound to obey it, eventually – even if he fights it. Reproduction Vampirism is spread by the ingestion of vampire blood or by its direct introduction to the human bloodstream. The contaminated blood spreads throughout the human's body, consuming and turning the regular blood until the human is fully turned. Newly turned vampires are always confused and disoriented, especially while adjusting to the overwhelmingly sharp senses and sensitivity to light. Bloodlust usually sets in after and drives the newly turned vampire into a killing spree. They then normally seek the one who changed them, known as their maker, and usually accept them as their leader. Sexual reproduction Silas has said that "as long as vampires feed everything functions normally." Male vampires are physically capable of reproduction with a human female. However, they are generally incapable of reproducing with female vampires because of the shared bloodlines. However, in female vampires, they are not generally capable of completing a successful menstrual cycle, because they immediately heal in the uterine cycle (when the endometrium of the uterus sheds and hemorrhaging occurs). This is not to say, however, that they would not ovulate; as that part happens before the bloody part. Appearance A vampire's appearance is that of a normal human. However, they all have common features, such as sharp, pointed, retractable teeth that emerge from their gums and extend beyond their human teeth. This set of fangs descend at the vampire's will, usually when about to feed, when threatened or when attacking.